Iran will give crushing response to any aggressor: Defense Minister

Iran’s Defense Minister says the Islamic Republic will give a crushing answer to any aggressor when it comes to defending its national security.

Speaking in a meeting with the Iranian Parliament’s Commission on National Security and Foreign Policy on Monday, Brigadier General Amir Hatami made a reference to Iran’s missile attack on Ain al-Assad military base in Iraq, which houses US forces, after the American military assassinated Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, and his companions earlier this year.

Lieutenant General Soleimani, who headed the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ Quds Force, was martyred alongside fellow Iraqi commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), known as Hashed al-Sha’abi in Arabic, and some others in a terrorist drone strike that targeted their vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport on January 3.

Commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Iraq's PMU deputy head assassinated in US strike

The director of public relations of pro-government Hashd al-Sha’abi forces has been killed after three Katyusha rockets fell on Baghdad International Airport.

Both commanders were admired by Muslim nations for eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

Soon after General Soleimani’s assassination, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Washington was to face a “harsh revenge” for the atrocity.

On January 8, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) unleashed volleys of ballistic missiles at the airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar Province. The Leader later described the retaliatory strikes as “only a slap.”

IRGC targets US airbases in Iraq in response to assassination of General Soleimani

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has targeted US airbases in Iraq.

Noting that Iran’s attack shattered the United States’ false pretense of grandeur in the region and the world, the Iranian Defense Minister said, “Through this firmness of resolve in acting timely against the common front of the [global] arrogance and hegemonic system, Iran proved that it will give rapid, categorical and crushing response to any aggressor in defense of its national interests and security.”

Pointing to Iran’s defense achievements in the field of ground, air, naval, electronic and aerospace warfare, and especially the missile achievements that have always been a thorn in the side of its enemies, Hatami said, “The Defense Ministry achieved major growth in this field in terms of quality and quantity during the first two years of this administration.”

Expressing the significant progress Iran has made in the field of air defense, the minister pointed to the unveiling and operationalisation of various short, medium and long-range air defense systems — Bavar-373 and Khordad-15 — and said, "Relying on these completely indigenous achievements, we have managed to secure the Iranian sky more than ever before."

Hatami went on to say that the enmity of the hegemonic system has always been obvious to us, and the Armed Forces, relying on indigenous know-how, have during the four decades of the glorious Islamic Revolution make the most of their capacities and been able to turn threats into opportunities.

Over the past days, the US administration has ramped up its anti-Iran rhetoric and threatened to seize or target Iran's fuel-carrying vessels crossing the Caribbean to the sanctions-hit Venezuela.

Iran: US bears responsibility for any foolish act against tankers heading to Venezuela

Iran warns that the United States will itself bear the responsibility for any foolish act that it could take against Venezuela-headed Iranian fuel tankers.

The US Navy is said to have deployed its USS Detroit (LCS-7), USS Lassen (DDG-82), USS Preble (DDG-88), and USS Farragut (DDG-99) to the Caribbean along with its patrol aircraft Boeing P8-Poseidon for possible encounter with the Iranian vessels.

Iran has vowed a crushing response to any acts of aggression and adventurism against its oil tankers on the part of the administration in Washington.

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